One reason we applied to DYS was to get a bigger pond effect. Unfortunately there aren't any DYS kids anywhere near his age near us. I will have to look into the other options (message boards, etc.) but I don't think it's the same as learning or playing with kids first-hand. We do have a few kids locally that DS enjoys playing with, but they're not really on his wavelength, and I do think that he unfortunately feels superior to them.

From what I've read about Everyday Math, it needs well-trained, perceptive teachers to be implemented well. It apparently has some decent thought behind it, and I actually think the spiral nature works well for some things-- for example, multiplication and division are introduced in first grade, then revisited later. On the other hand I think that the whole thing is based upon an idea that children don't learn abstractly at all and generally need things dumbed down for them early on, which is a mistake in my opinion. As an example, multiplication and division are taught in first grade with a cutesy machine concept -- arguably good because it may predispose them to understand the concept of a function, but IMHO bad because it's more straightforward to simply conceive of multiplication and division directly and exercise visual-spatial skills (Cuisenaire rods and other manipulatives work this way, and seem to work well to develop good number sense).

We've been afterschooling out of desperation, using Singapore Math, Life of Fred, and other odds and ends. I would be very uncomfortable with Everyday Math if it were DS's only curriculum, but as it is my main frustration with the school is the fact that the instructional level is too low. I'd be happy enough if he were exposed to fifth grade EDM concepts similar to what he's getting at home, as reinforcement in a new way isn't a bad thing and he plows through the math at home pretty quickly. (Best would have been to agree to our plan to do partial homeschooling, with him doing his sent-in math written work during the school day, and I may still have to force them to accept that if the new teacher doesn't work well.)

Striving to increase my rate of flow, and fight forum gloopiness. sick